Tweek's Story
by Clockwork Imagination
Summary: It was long after the disaster. Long after the screams died down and the sound of clanking metal dissipated. The war was over; the humans had lost. Were they all gone? Perhaps.. Perhaps not. One thing was certain; All that had lived here were gone.
1. Lost And Found

It was long after the disaster. Long after the screams died down and the sound of clanking metal dissipated. The war was over and it appeared that the humans had lost most miserably. Were they all gone? Perhaps.. Perhaps not. One thing was for certain though, all that had lived here were dead.

Now, the only life amongst the ruins were sloppily made machines and ragged Skullbeasts, skulking about and taking offhanded swipes at things that caught their interest. Other notable inhabitants, though not as plentiful but definitely more agreeable, were the Stitchpunks.. Or at least that was what they had come to refer to themselves as. They were a peaceful race of little people who hid in the shadows and scraped out a meagre living in the wasteland for themselves and their companions. Some of them had been alive during the war and knew what humans were like, but most were late-activators who had awoken afterward to the wasteland that the once thriving city had become. The only humans they knew were in photographs, books, newspapers, and dead bodies that no one approached out of respect for the lost lives.

Tweek, an ordinary stitchpunk, was one of these late-activators. His creator, a man named Étienne René Pierre, had been one of the few humans to donate their life to another being that would live on after the war. He had intended to make many stitchpunks initially and hide them all away in his workshop, but had been chased out of his home by a few machines when the war first started. He never finished his project.

Thus, Tweek was Étienne's sole contribution to the project, and was left within the workshop for a long time.. And finally, after the commotion had stopped and the machines had claimed their victory, Tweek awoke for the first time.

It was dark in the workshop. The only light that came in was from the arched windows high above, letting dusty light filter through. It was mostly silent though the occassional breeze outside caused the old heavy rafters up above to creak and the door at the top of the stairs to open slightly, then return to its ajar position. On the very edge of a large desk in a box lay the stitchpunk, silent and unmoving, but that was soon to change. A sudden gust of wind through a broken window caught a wooden plant propped up against the wall by it, and the board fell, hitting the desk and knocking the box to the floor, spilling all of its contents- spools of thread, scissors, pieces of cloth, cogs, gears... And Tweek. Everything scattered across the old stone floor and Tweek, having landed on his belly in a sprawled position partially covered by a piece of cloth, awoke.

His never-before-used eyelenses opened slowly, blinking a few times as if he were sleepy. A very soft, breathless groan emanated from his lips and he very slowly, very tentatively looked at his hand and flexed it experimentally. When he had assured himself that he was in good condition, he pushed himself into a kneeling position and looked around. His eyelenses widened in amazement of his surroundings, and he stood up to try to take it all in. On wobbly new legs he did his best to stand and look around with interest, but the place was simply too big for him to take in all at once and he fell back onto his bottom. Shaking his head, he attempted to stand again and stumbled a few steps forward, bending down and picking up a brightly coloured piece of cloth. The colourful fabric was enticing to him in a way and he wrapped it around himself like a cloak for fun beore he suddenly looked down and noticed a book. Quietly he walked over to it and squatted down near it, cloth still wrapped around his shoulders, and opened it up. The pages within were filled with handwriting- what it said he couldn't tell, for he could not yet read. Gently he placed a little wooden and metal hand onto the page it had fallen open to and stared at it intently, as if wishing that if he stared at it long enough the words might start to make sense.. But, of course, they didn't and he flipped through some more pages to see what else might be inside. He ended up finding a picture of a human man working on something. Upon closer inspection he realised that the object he was working on had a shape similar to what Tweek had seen of himself so far. Putting the pieces together he figured that the man must have created him, and a slightly melancholy mood came over him.

"M-my.. Creator.." He spoke his first words quietly, but the small sound seemed to surprise him and he jumped, touching his mouth. He hadn't even really thought about speaking, it had just sort of happened. He recovered himself quickly though and picked up the photo, holding it in both hands and staring at it intently like he had with the book. For a moment he wished he could talk to his creator, figure out what his purpose was and discover what this new world he was in was like... He suddenly pursed his lips and straightened up, looking around yet again with newfound curiosity. The discovering part, he mused, could be done on his own. Quetly he stood up and let the cloth drape airily back down to the floor as he moved to go pick up a knitting needle and use it as a walking stick, as well as something to defend himself with should he come across.. Well, trouble. He wasn't sure what to expect but was eager to find out more about this place. Perhaps there were others like him.. Or perhaps there were even more humans like his creator. He wouldn't know until he went outside and looked, so, with the resolve to come back later, he closed the journal and pushed it over so that it lay under the desk. This didn't seem good enough so he ran over to grab the bright piece of cloth and drag it over the top of the journal to keep it hidden. There. That seemed better. When he was finished and satisfied with his work, he turned to face the stairs that led to the slightly ajar door. He hesitated a moment, then set forth to climb the stairs. For such a short stitchpunk it was no easy task- he continuously had to jump and climb and scrabble to get to the next step. By the time he'd reached the top he was nearly worn out, but a minute or two of rest saw him able to continue his little journey. Slowly he approached the door, and peeked around the edge. It was another room, but this one had brown carpet. The room branched off to many other rooms, but one door directly across from him seemed to lead outside. It was halfway open, beckoning him to come out. With no hesitation this time he ran across the room and exited the doorway. The light outside was blinding at first and his eyelenses grew small for a moment before returning to normal. He rubbed his optics as they adjusted, then blinked a few times and took a look around, beginning to walk forward.

What he saw was not what he'd expected. Everything was desolate and ruined. The foreign buildings were broken and even collapsed completely in some areas, and the trashed streets lay in disrepair, covered with the collective dirt and garbage that had piled up since and during the war. Slightly in dismay, he ventured forth as quietly as possible, wondering if his assumptions could be true at all. There was a terrible moment where he wondered if he was the last living thing here. He could not imagine living his life alone. He quickly swept that thought from his head, trying to trust that he would find a companion of some sort. It was good to remain positive. As he walked he constantly watched out for others, whether they be stitchpunk or human.

The one thing he never counted on was the Skullbeasts.. And even less did he expect that one was stalking him at the very moment. He did, however, grow very stiff and grip his knitting needle tighter when he heard a rustle.

"Hello..? Is anyone there?" He asked, turning in a cirle but seeing no one. He jumped slightly when a hiss came from nearby. His thought that he was alone was beginning to be disproved, but he suddenly wished he was right. Tensely he waited, but when a creaking noise came from behind him, he whirled around. His breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back a few steps, eyelenses dilated and mouth open. Before him was a huge, horrendous creature with piercing red eyes and a jerking, rather disfigured mechanical shape. The mechanical beast hissed at him again and suddenly struck out. Tweek was paralyzed in shock, unable to run- the blow hit him head on. The beast's claw caught the fabric on the top of his head, leaving a large gash that reached from the back of his head to one of his optics in front. Despite being injured now, he had snapped out of his shock and cried out, scrambling to his feet again and turning to run as fast as he could. As he ran he could hear the beast behind him giving chase and was compelled to run even faster. Though his new legs were inexperienced with movement, he found instincts that he wasn't even aware he'd had awakening within him and guiding him away from danger. His flight came to a sudden halt, however, when he came up to the edge of a ditch. The deep, fast-flowing water did not look even relatively inviting, and when he turned to run a different way, he found himself face to face with the beast. He brandished his knitting needle, though the action was more of a bluff to buy him some time than anything else. The beast did not mind it's prey's weapon and attacked anyway, lashing out again. This time one of its sharp claws snagged Tweek's shoulder and down his waist to his hip, leaving a huge cut and knocking him backward a few steps. It was then that he lost his balance and slipped off the edge of the nearly vertical slope. Everything happened so fast that Tweek barely knew what to think before he was tumbling head over heels and down into the water with a splash. He sunk beneath the rushing surface for a moment, though all the while he kicked and struggled. He had only just learned to walk and run, now he had to learn how to swim. With much difficulty he finally brought himself to the surface and continued to put up a weak fight with the water, crying out pitifully and waving one of his arms in desperation. He then remembered his knitting needle, which he'd forgotten was in his own hand, and tried to use it to catch himself on something as the rushing water carried him quickly down the ditch. The knitting needle dug into the mud on the side of the bank, though it was not solid enough to catch. Suddenly there was a violent jerk as it caught on a rock, but Tweek was not prepared and it slipped from his grasp. He shouted out as he sunk beneath the water again and thrashed wildly to return to the surface; He came up once more briefly, then sunk again. Weakly now he struggled, nearly spent of energy and ready to give up; This was the moment when he felt a strong hand grip him by the fabric on his upper back and haul him upward and out of the water completely. He coughed and spluttered sluggishly, unable to see properly for water had seeped into his eyelense covers and was slow to drain. He was just barely able to make out a figure pulling him up out of his wet predicament and lying him onto the dry ground before his eyelenses closed themselves and he fell unconcious.

It was nearly fifteen minutes later that Tweek awoke again, languidly opening his still draining eyes and trying to see where he was and what was happening. However the water that was still draining from his eyelenses did not allow him to see anything clearly and he gave up. For now he'd have to rely on other senses for information. So far he could feel that he was in a slouched sitting position near something bright and warm.. There was also a large cloth wrapped around him like a blanket. He was mostly dry now, though the water that was draining from his eyelense covers trickled down his face, leaving a wet trail down each cheek as if he were crying. He was tempted to try and sleep again, but a noise from nearby put him on edge immediately. After the ordeal he'd been through he was extremely jumpy, and scrambled to his feet without thinking much about it first, murky eyelenses searching wildly for whatever had moved.

"W-where are you! Go away! L-l-leave me alone!" He shouted and waved his arms around, feeling for something.. Anything that he could defend himself with. However his temporary blindness caused him to be disoriented and he tripped, falling backward onto his bottom.

"Easy now little fellow!" A figure closeby that he could barely just make out against the flickering light spoke to him in a somewhat surprised but comforting tone. Tweek was too scared to reason that this person was only trying to help him and defensively scrabbled in the dirt to find a rock, holding it in such a way as to throw it at even the slightest provocation. The figure came to him quickly and before Tweek could hurl his weapon, he felt a familiar, strong grasp take his wrist to prevent him from using his primitive weapon. His mouth opened slightly as he was pulled up off the ground again, into a tight but warm embrace. Initially he struggled, but was suddenly overcome with a sense of relief and protection like he hadn't felt before.

"Easy now.." He heard the figure speak again and relaxed, going limp and groaning a bit. "There you go, that's better. You're safe now, there are no machines here to worry about." Tweek felt another wave of relief, immediately trusting the judgement of the other. For a minute they stood like that, the stranger holding Tweek tightly, then finally he led the small stitch back to the little campfire and put the blanket back around his shoulders.

"You must have been through some ordeal to be so frightened." The stranger commented and Tweek nodded numbly. The stranger then patted his shoulder.

"Looks like you had a nasty encounter with a machine, those cuts were quite a sight.. Don't worry though I fixed them up for you while you were still sleeping." He said. Tweek muttered a soft "thank you" and tentatively reached to touch the spot where the huge gash on his abdomen had been. He could feel the stitches and was able to tell it had been sewn back together. He did his very best to smile crookedly and murmured,

"You did a good job." The stranger smiled and replied,

"Thank you.. I've had a lot of practice on myself.. I too have a habit of getting myself into predicaments and like you have also gained some nasty scars from the experience. Machines and Skullbeasts are nasty things, quite unpleasant creatures." He had come to sit beside Tweek and reached up to gingerly touch the stitches on Tweek's head. "So are these holding up good? It shouldn't hurt anymore."

Tweek could feel the other touching the spot where his cut had been, but felt no pain.

"Yes, they are fine. Th-thank you very much.. I don't know wha-what would have happened, had you not come along and saved me.."

"Well I should think it wouldn't have been a good outcome.. But let's not think about that, I was there and we're here now, together. Now get some more sleep, it's getting pretty late, the sun has already gone down.. Come morning your eyelenses should have finished draining and we can get to know eachother better." The stranger said and Tweek smiled softly, nodding and closing his eyes. Before he knew it, he was asleep again.


	2. 19

The gray light of early dawn was slow to spread throughout the wasteland, and as its dim light set over the rooftops and illuminated things wih its cold glow, it happened to fall over Tweek and awakened him. At first he didn't want to get up, snuggled into the warm blanket he'd been provided with. But finally he opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. The murkiness of the water stuck in his eyelenses was gone, for like the stranger had said, it had completely drained. Then his thoughts switched to the stranger. Where had he gone? The smouldering but no longer warm or burning fire had no one besides Tweek sitting beside it, and immediately Tweek was on edge again. He stood up, holding the blanket around his shoulders and looking around.

"H-hello! Where are you! Where did you go!" He said, his voice gradually rising as he grew more and more upset.

"Hey little stitch, calm down! I just went to go get some water to put out the fire with." The extremely welcome and familiar voice came from the side and Tweek turned to see the figure from the previous night walking toward him, carrying a thimble of water.. Though now Tweek could definitely see more detail. The stranger was tall and a little thin, though he had a somewhat strong look to him. As he had mentioned the previous night, he did have some scars... Or more like patches. His bottom half, from the leg fabric up to the sides of his waist was covered in multicoloured patches to hold pierces cuts and wounds closed. His head had a patch as well, it was made of leather and covered his left eye. It was apparent that he'd really been through the grinder, though his spry attitude and energetic demeanor were givaways that he was still quite lively indeed. He walked up to the campfire and doused the embers with the water before tossing the thimble aside and turning to Tweek.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just scared that you might have.. L-left.." Tweek said softly and looked down at his feet. The stranger smiled softly and kneeled down in front of Tweek, looking up into his optics playfully.

"Hey now, that's almost offensive. You can trust me, I swear. Whatever it is you've been through, you can have somebody to put your trust in now." He reached up to pat Tweek's shoulder and Tweek smiled too, taking the blanket from his shoulders and giving it back to the other stitch as he stood up again.

"This is yours." He said simply, and the other stitch grinned, taking it and draping it around his own shoulders, tying it around his neck. There were a few folds of the cloth's loose fabric draping over his shoulders, but he pulled them over his head like a hood.

"Thanks. So little stitch, what's your name?" He asked. Tweek was silent, and looked down for a minute, fidgeting uncomfortably. The stranger cocked his head to the side and bent down again, once more looking up at Tweek with a playful look.

"What's wrong? You don't need to look at your feet around me. Just be honest." He said. Tweek smiled softly, almost a bit wistfully.

"Well.. I don't.. I don't have a name." He murmured. The other stitch put his hands on his hips and stood up again.

"No name? Well, little stitch, we ought to fix that right away..." He thought for a minute then suggested, "How about Tweek? You're a little jumpy so I thought it might fit you well." Tweek grinned and nodded.

"It's perfect, thank you." He said softly, rubbing his arm somewhat bashfully. The stranger grinned and turned to begin walking, motioning for Tweek to follow.

"Well you can call me 19, because that's _my_ name." He said. Tweek started following him and the two began to make their way through the ruins of the city together..

"So, when I climbed up there to apologize to her, you know what she did?" 19 asked Tweek with a smirk as he jumped up onto a brick and back down again on the other side.

"What?" Tweek asked, genuinely curious.

"She pushed me off!" 19 exclaimed with a broad grin. Tweek immediately laughed. He was beginning to love these stories that 19 told. They were stories of action, of sadness and joy, and also of romance. These interesting subjects were all relatively new to Tweek.. Especially romance. So when 19 spoke, he was eager to listen.

"No she didn't!" Tweek said in disbeleif.

"Oh yes she did. She just pushed me off the edge without even hearing a word I had to say, and I fell and landed on my back in the dirt. I wasn't hurt or anything, and truly the whole thing was starting to look pretty hilarious so I just started to laugh. Of course, laughter is contagious and pretty soon she began to laugh too. So then I was laughing and she was laughing and we got over it and just sat there and laughed together. Those were good times. Sometimes I want to re-join the Clan.. Though I'm not sure if it's the best thing for me. I'm an adventurer- I want to see things and fight beasts and meet new people.. Like you." 19 said, still smiling. Tweek cocked his head to the side.

"You speak of this 'Clan' often. Tell me more about it, it seems as if you had some very good times there." He said curiously. 19 sighed a bit, but still smiled as he explained.

"Well.. The Clan was a large tribe of stitchpunks- our people- who roam these wastelands and set up camp occassionally when they find a safe place to do so. In the Clan we always liked to dance and play music and make merry. There was also lots of romance and childbearing there- our kind is a bit scarce and the Clan's leaders beleive that it is a good idea to increase the population. I agree with that.. Anyway, we also played games and traded our belongings and generally just lived together in a happy sort of way. Different stitchpunks had different specialties and we all coexisted in one place.. As a group. That was the Clan. I used to be a part of it- I lived there and had friends and mates.. But I packed up and left one night without looking back. I don't know where they are or if any of them still remember me, but I suppose I don't miss it too much. Like I said, I'm an adventurer." When 19 finished, Tweek looked at him and tilted his head a bit.

"I'm not. I'm just some poor guy from the wasteland who happened to get into trouble way over his head.. Literally. I'd like to be able to settle down and have what you had.. Friends, a mate, a colony of which I could be a part of.. It sounds great to me." He said quietly. 19 smiled softly.

"Well we're all unique, that's the beauty of it. If we ever happen to come across the Clan or a group like them, you go ahead and join them. I'm fine on my own or with a partner." He said.

"Doesn't it get lonely by yourself?" Tweek asked. 19 shrugged and replied,

"It's nice to have somebody to talk to for a change, but I'm fine by myself. It's actually a more common experience to find other stitchpunks out here than you might think." Tweek glanced around and rubbed his arms.

"So there are a lot of others like us? Like, a whole lot?"

"Well, I wouldn't say a whole lot, but there are quite a few. I often wonder to myself exactly how many there are, though I know there is no real answer to that question." 19 suddenly stopped as he heard a crinkling sound beneath his feet. Looking down he smiled at te piece of paper on which he was standing. I was an old page that had been ripped from a book. On it was written part of a story and 19 stepped off and pulled it up in deight.

"Look at this. It's part of a book.." He stopped to read some of it and Tweek stared at him with deep longing, mouth slightly open. The phenomenon of reading was something Tweek strongly desired and seeing this 19 fellow do it with such ease made him jealous for a brief moment.. Then he got over that and begn wondering if 19 could teach him.

"Here, read this it's actually really entertaining.. I wonder if we could find the rest of the book. Then we could camp out for a while and read-" 19 was interrupted as Tweek pulled on his arm to get his attention.

"N-ni...19..? I can't.. Well.. I can't read." He said softly. 19 looked at him with something akin to a caring sort of pity, then put a hand on Tweek's shoulder and said,

"Well let's fix that. If we can find some books somewhere and maybe some ink I could try to teach you how." He said. Tweek's entire demeanor lit up and he smiled delightedly, taking 19's hand in his own hands and all but shouting,

"Really? You'd help me learn how to read!" 19 laughed and rubbed Tweek's head playfully.

"Of course! That's what friends are for." He then began to trot off to find a safe place with some books, and Tweek followed closely behind, nearly stepping on his heels in anticipation. Not only was he eager to learn how to read, he was also excited about what 19 had said. 'That's what friends are for..'

Tweek had never had a friend; this was the first person he'd met, after all. But he liked the sound of it, and felt more comforted and at peace than he had since he'd first woken up... And he was glad.


	3. The Schoolhouse

The schoolhouse was still standing, and had evidently not been in a major area of destruction for it and many other buildings near it were quite intact. The only changes that had been made to the area since the war was a small accumulation of trash here and there on the street and a little weather erosion on the buildings.. But other than that, they were in the same condition they'd been in when they had still been in use. It was an eerie feeling as they walked down the huge, empty street, wind whistling overhead. Tweek was somewhat awed by the buildings and their monstrous size. Even 19 appeared to have never been to such a place before and stared up at the brick buildings with wide optics. He approached the schoolhouse fearlessly though and walked straight in the open door. Tweek was not as confident. He paused outside of the doorway, but a sudden monstrous crash from across the street as the wind toppled an empty trash can startled Tweek into dashing inside. He rain straight into 19, who'd stopped to wait for him, and the taller stitchpunk immediately put his arms around short stitch buried his face in 19's chest for a moment, then looked up at 19 with a vaguely frightened look.

"That.. That scared me." He said quietly and began to smile a bit. 19 grinned in return and released Tweek, giving him a genle pat on the shoulder.

"It's alright. Come on, there should be books in here somewhere. They are such commonplace items that they shouldn't be hard to find. Let's check over here." 19 said and led Tweek off through a doorway. Sure enough, there were some shelves of books, and desks in neat rows. It appeared to be a classroom, but neither of the Stitchpunks were aware of this and gazed around at the perfectly aligned desks and shelves of books in neat rows by the wall, sorted by their reading level difficulty. Tweek walked up to a shelf and, with a little difficulty, pulled a book from it. It was a kindergarten grade spelling book, and to 19 it was a very easy read. Though to Tweek, the strange symbols on the pages were foreign and unfamiliar. Learning how to interperet them and make sense of them seemed to him like a daunting task. He looked a little discouraged, but 19 smiled and pointed to one of the symbols.

"This is A. It is the first letter of the alphabet and is very commonly used. Can you say it?" He asked. Tweek crouched down and stared at the letter A for a long time. Finally he repeated the word. 19 then pointed to the second symbol.

"This is B."

They went on like this for a long time. In fact, they went on with Tweek's lessons until it was dark outside and they needed light to see the book. 19 was able to get the candle down from the teacher's desk, and lit it with a match that he scrounged from one of the drawers. When they'd gotten the candle lit and had light once again. The two then set to pulling some of the books out of the shelf, hollowing out a small space that they could sit in like a small cave between the books. After this they crawled inside, bringing the book and candle with them so that they could continue studying.. In no time tweek had meorized the alphabet, but he had trouble remembering what order they went in, and which way to write them. He also often mistook Q's for O's, and had a hard time seeing the difference between Z's and N's.. After all, wasn't a Z just an N on its side?

In any case, they were soon tired and settled down in their little hole to sleep.

"You're doing very well. Pretty soon you'll be able to spell letters out and read them aloud. Go ahead and recite the alphabet for me, would you?" 19 asked as he put out the candle and closed the spelling book. Tweek smiled sleepily up at 19 as the taller stitch came to sit beside him, and murmured,

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, M, L, N, O.. No, wait.. L M N, not M L N.. P, Q, R, S... T.. U.." He trailed off as his head drooped and he began to fall asleep. 19 chuckled and gently laid Tweek down on his side, taking off his own cloak and lying down beside him, draping it over them both.

"Good night.." He mumbled and closed his tired optics as well.

The next morning, Tweek awoke first, roused to conciousness by a soft clack of undeterminate origin. As it sounded out his eyelenses snapped open and he sat bolt upright, looking around tensely with wide optics. There was nothing in immediate sight that posed a threat, however Tweek had learned the hard way that you could not always trust what you saw. Quickly he crawled closer to the sleeping 19 and began to shake him awake.

"19.." He whispered loudly and urgently. "19!" With a jolt 19 awoke as well and sat up sluggishly, rubbing his optics.

"Mnnhh.. Whut?" His words were equally as sluggish, laced with sleepiness, but when he noticed Tweek's demeanor he forced himself into alertness as well. "What's wrong, did you see something?" He asked quickly. Tweek glanced at 19 but said nothing for a moment. Right as he opened his mouth to speak though, another clack sounded out. This time they both were able to determine that it had come from the hallway outside of the classroom they were in. It sounded very close, and a creaking noise, accompanied by a soft hiss gave away what it was. The both of them were tense now, and 19 slowly got to his feet, helping Tweek up as well, and they silently backed into the deep shadows of the bookshelf, hoping that the beast wouldn't see them back there and simply pass by. 19 felt his back touch the back of the bookshelf and found himself unable to go further. Tweek backed up, but he didn't notice 19's cloak, which was still on the ground. He ended up tripping over it and falling onto his back with a thud and a small cry of surprise. 19 was quick to jump forward and clamp his hand over Tweek's mouth though so the noise was muffled. 19 dragged Tweek into the dark corner and tensely the two of them waited there as the heavy footsteps of a Skullbeast grew nearer and louder. It had heard them.

The thing poked its head around the doorway, standing there for a minute then crawling in, dragging its jerking, misshapen mechanical body into the room and looking around. The red light from its optics shone down and illuminated the discarded papers and books that lay on the floor. There was a pause as it scanned the room with its keen sight.. But its sight was not keen enough to detect the two terrified Stichpunks hiding in the shadows of a bookshelf and soon it moved away. The two stitches stayed perfectly still for a long time. Over 10 minutes had elapsed when they finally relaxed. 19, who had been holding Tweek's mouth shut the entire time, released the smaller stitch and slid down the wall into a sitting position. Tweek somewhat weakly went over to pick up 19's cloak and fell to a crouching position beside it as he gathered it into his arms.

"I think it's gone.." Tweek mumbled softly and held the cloak out to 19, who took it and put it on. "I'm sorry.." Tweek added, knowing that the near-disaster was his fault entirely. 19 shook his head.

"No no, don't apologize. If it hadn't been for you waking up and hearing it coming we'd both be in serious danger right now. But now it's gone, so we don't need to worry about it anymore." He said calmly and sighed, taking a few moments to recompose himself. Finally he smiled.

"Alright, let's try working on your alphabet again today." He said, but Tweek didn't seem too keen on the subject at that particular moment.

"But.. But, shouldn't we get out of here? This place isn't safe-" He began but 19 cut him off.

"It's perfectly safe. If the machine passed through here without finding anyone, it's not very likely that it will come back for a long while yet, if ever. Machines are dangerous and numerous, yes, but it's best to stay where you are if you've already seen one.. That reduces your chances of running into another, maybe worse one." He said and Tweek silently found himself agreeing. He couldn't possibly put up any legitimate argument to that point, so he did his best to calm himself and agreed to resume the spelling lesson from yesterday. It almost seemed as if he'd forgotten most of it overnight, and they had to review the alphabet two or three times before Tweek could say it in the correct order again. Once they'd tackled that, 19 began teaching Tweek basic words and phrases that all Stitchpunks should know. Tweek had soon learned how to spell 'Danger', 'Safe place', 'Help', 'This way', 'Friend', and 'Hostile'. He had also learned how to spell his name as well as 19's. His handwriting left a lot to be desired, and he often misspelled or wrote words and letters wrong, but Tweek was happy with what he knew. The simple joy of knowing he could write and read, if only a few words, was enough for him. By afternoon he had memorized the words and could write them down alphabetically; 19 seemed very proud of his student.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now. There are books everywhere in this city, we can look for more somewhere else. We ought to move on." 19 suddenly said after they had closed the book to take a break. Tweek huffed.

"Nooo, we just got started and this is a really good book!" He whined, but when 19 leaned over and tickled his underarms his disappointment was turned into laughter.

"Okay! Oka-ay! Let's go." He finally gave in, barely able to speak through peals of laughter. 19 stood and helped Tweek up and they put the books back onto the shelf before they headed out of the schoolhouse, back into the desolate streets. The sky was murky and gray, but it was illuminated with a light behind the clouds and fog so they could tell it was about noontime. There was a slight breeze whistling somewhat eerily through the street, rustling a few stray papers and causing 19's cloak to billow out behind him as he stepped out from the doorway of the schoolhouse. Tweek kept near to him at all times, though occassionally if something drew his attention of piqued his interest he straggled a bit. The pair of Stichpunks moved quietly, not speaking for a long time. It was only when they had come to the outskirts of the city that either of them said anything.

They were walking along the side of a nearly empty drainage ditch when Tweek happened to look across the ditch to the barren landscape on the other side. It was very smoggy that day for the slight wind that had picked up a bit overnight was blowing all manner of dust and grime into the air, but Tweek could see a huge silhouette. At first he squinted and stared at it in wonder, trying to figure out what it was, but when the smog cleared for a brief moment, his mouth fell open and he drew in his breath.

"19! 19, what IS that?" He asked, and 19 came up beside him, standing on the edge of the ditch as well. He stared at the huge shape as well, rubbing his arms as if he were cold. The huge silhouette sat ominously on the horizon, completely still and unmoving, except for the pumping motion of the huge piston-like devices on the outside of it. The red light emanating from the large round top window in front cast a hazy red glow out acros the air, catching the dust and dirt particles and giving the building the illusion of a red glow.

"That is the Factory. That is the lair of the Machine and its creations, the Skullbeasts. This is dangerous territory, we should probably get out of here quickly. I hadn't realized we'd come so close." He said and Tweek suddenly felt a little uneasy.

"Alright.." He mumbled and followed 19 as the taller stitch began walking in the opposite direction of the Factory, back toward the ruined remains of the city...


End file.
